Prof Dr Ralf Reski helps found TIP, the Trinational Institute for Plant Research
At the Trinational Institute for Plant Research (TIP), the central aspects of plant DNA will be analysed by teams from three different nations. The Institute has just been given the green light and will be funded by the EU. Prof Dr Ralf Reski, a member of BIOSS, will be joining TIP together with his team of plant bioengineers.
The Institute was approved as part of the INTERREG IV Oberrhein, a programme supporting cross-border cooperation in the Upper Rhine Valley. The Institute is expected to receive funding from the EU beginning in 2014. Scientists from Germany, France and Switzerland will join forces in a research centre that reflects the growing importance of plant sciences; plant biotechnology is especially one of the key technologies of the 21st century. Member universities include the University of Freiburg, Institut de Biologie Moléculaire des Plantes (IBMP) of the University of Strasbourg, the Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) and the University of Basel. The Institute will receive roughly €2.8 million in funding from over the next three years.
The goal of scientists at TIP will be to investigate the central aspects of plant DNA, including how plant DNA repairs itself and defends itself against pests. Each member team is specialised in a certain field. Prof Dr Ralf Reski will research the signalling process leading to efficient gene targeting in physcomitrella. He and his team will be working on knockout mosses, which have a similar importance for plant engineering as knockout mice in medical research.
TIP will offer practical placement exchange programmes and joint lectures with partner universities, stressing its transnational character. One of the main objectives of the Institute is the joint training of students and post-grads. Prof Dr Ralf Reski and his team will be offering bioinformatics workshops that will concentrate on the analysis of the moss genome, modern methods of comparative genomics and gene expression network analysis (GXNA). All lectures and events hosted by TIP will of course be open to all BIOSS members.